GEONETcast, a new capability for Earth monitoring

GEONETCast is a near real time, global network of satellite-based data dissemination systems designed to distribute space-based, air-borne and in situ data, metadata about disease, agriculture, biodiversity, natural disasters, air and water quality, ocean conditions, and ecosystems to decision-makers around the globe. Introduced during the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Conference in Bonn, Germany, GEONETcast is the outcome of a cooperative effort being organised by EUMETSAT (the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), the United States, China and the World Meteorological Organisation. GEONETcast, in which GMES will contribute through the space priority contained in the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7), will be one of the key data dissemination systems within GEOSS (the Global Earth Observation System of Systems) aimed at developing a global monitoring network.